Autonomous driving method, combine, and autonomous driving system

Abstract

A combine harvester comprises a control device. The control device functions as a travel route creation unit, a discharge route creation unit, and an autonomous driving control unit. The travel route creation unit creates a travel route R for an unharvested area of a field. The discharge route creation unit creates a discharge route D that extends from an end position E, of the travel route R, at which automatic harvesting of the unharvested area is completed, to a discharge position which is preset for the field. The autonomous driving control unit controls the automatic harvesting travel according to the travel route R or the automatic discharge travel according to the discharge route D.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . An autonomous driving method of a combine that conducts autonomous reaping and traveling according to a travel route, the autonomous driving method comprising:
 a travel route creation step of creating the travel route for a yet-to-be-reaped region in a field;   a discharge route creation step of creating a discharge route from an end position of the travel route at which autonomous reaping of the yet-to-be-reaped region is finished, up to a discharge position that is previously set for the field; and   an autonomous driving control step of controlling the autonomous reaping and traveling according to the travel route or an autonomous discharge travel according to the discharge route.   
     
     
         2 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 1  wherein in the autonomous driving control step, whether the autonomous discharge travel is conducted or not is determined based on information about a next work field. 
     
     
         3 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 1  wherein in the autonomous driving control step, the autonomous discharge travel is conducted when a kind or a bleed of an agricultural product in a current work field and a kind or a bleed of an agricultural product in a next work field are different from each other. 
     
     
         4 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 1  wherein in the autonomous driving control step, in a case in which a next work field exists, the autonomous discharge travel is conducted when a storage amount of grain exceeds a predetermined storage threshold, and the autonomous discharge travel is not conducted when the storage amount is equal to or lower than the predetermined storage threshold. 
     
     
         5 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 4  wherein in the autonomous driving control step, the storage threshold is previously set based on a planned harvest amount of grain in a next work field. 
     
     
         6 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 4 ,
 further comprising an exit route creation step of, when the autonomous discharge travel is not conducted in the autonomous driving control step, creating an exit route from the end position of the travel route to an entrance and exit position that is previously set for the field,   wherein, when the autonomous discharge travel is not conducted, an autonomous exit travel according to the exit route is conducted in the autonomous driving control step.   
     
     
         7 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 1  wherein the discharge route running along at least part of the travel route is created in the discharge route creation step. 
     
     
         8 . The autonomous driving method according to  claim 1 , further comprising a selecting step of selecting whether the autonomous discharge travel is needed or not. 
     
     
         9 . A combine that conducts autonomous reaping and traveling according to a travel route, the combine comprising:
 a travel route creation unit that creates the travel route for a yet-to-be-reaped region in a field;   a discharge route creation unit that creates a discharge route from an end position of the travel route at which autonomous reaping of the yet-to-be-reaped region is finished, up to a discharge position that is previously set for the field; and   an autonomous driving control unit that controls the autonomous reaping and traveling according to the travel route or an autonomous discharge travel according to the discharge route.   
     
     
         10 . An autonomous driving system of a combine that conducts autonomous reaping and traveling according to a travel route, the autonomous driving system comprising:
 a travel route creation unit that creates the travel route for a yet-to-be-reaped region in a field;   a discharge route creation unit that creates a discharge route from an end position of the travel route at which autonomous reaping of the yet-to-be-reaped region is finished, up to a discharge position that is previously set for the field; and   an autonomous driving control unit that controls the autonomous reaping and traveling according to the travel route or an autonomous discharge travel according to the discharge route.